|name=Roderick Luke Miller
|image=
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]]
|spouse=(1) Clemencia "Clemy" Clotworthy Miller (died 1995)<br>
(2) Jane Brinkhaus Gaiennie Miller (surviving spouse)
|children=Father Francis Miller<br>
Thomas Justin Miller<br>
Kenneth Gerard Miller<br>
John Miller<br>
Normand Cleophas Miller<br>
Jeanine Miller Billeaud <br>
Carmel Soileau
|religion=[[Roman Catholic]]
|birth_date=October 20, 1924
|birth_place=Reddell, Evangeline Parish<br>[[Louisiana]]
|death_date=January 15, 2005
|resting_place=Calvary Cemetery in [[Lafayette]]
|office=Louisiana State Representative<br> for Lafayette Parish
|term_start=March 1966
|term_end=May 1968
|preceded=[[Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton, Jr.]]|succeeded=A. O. Rappelet
|relations=[[Armand Brinkhaus]]<br>
(brother-in-law) |alma_mater=University of Louisiana at Lafayette<br>Loyola University School of law ([[New Orleans]])|branch=[[United States Army]] Air Forces|rank=Navigator on B-29's; Lieutenant|battles=[[World War II]] and the [[Korean War]].
}}
'''Roderick Luke Miller''', also known as '''Rod Miller''' (October 20, 1924 – January 15, 2005)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166017991/roderick-luke-miller|title=Roderick Luke "Rod" Miller obituary|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=December 23, 2020}}</ref> was a [[Lafayette]] [[attorney]] and a pioneer in the development of the [[Republican Party]] in [[Louisiana]]. He was the third Republican since [[Reconstruction]] to be elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives and the first ever from Lafayette Parish, subsequently one of the stronger Republican-leaning parishes in the state. Miller served half of a legislative term from 1966 to 1968. He was also a member of the Republican State Central Committee and the Lafayette Parish Republican Executive Committee. Prior to his death, he had received his party's "Lifetime Service Award."
<blockquote>
'''He was a good man. He had high ethics, and he was a good lawyer. His word was his bond. You could trust him completely. He left a good heritage. He will be missed. He was one of those who brought the Republican Party into a viable position in Lafayette Parish,''' said [[Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton , Jr.]], of his opponent and friend, Roderick Miller</blockquote>
==Early lifeBackground==
Miller was born in Reddell in Evangeline Parish to Cleophas Miller (1888-1971), a railroad employee, and the former Isabelle Michot (1895-1975). Miller graduated from Vidrine High School in Evangeline Parish and then served during [[World War II]] in the United States Army Air Corps as a navigator on [[B-29]]'s. He was reactivated as a first lieutenant during the [[Korean War]]. Between the two wars, Miller graduated in 1947 from the institution now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (then Southwestern Louisiana Institute). He then graduated in 1949 from Loyola University Law School in [[New Orleans]].
==Miller and Mouton, friends and political rivals==
Miller practiced [[law]] in Lafayette with Charles DeBaillon in the firm of DeBaillon and Miller. He ran unsuccessfully as a [[Democrat]] for a judgeship.
Then Miller switched parties at the time when it was said that the GOP, with very few voters under its umbrella, could caucus in a phone booth. He was elected to the Louisiana House in a special election upset on March 22, 1966, to succeed his Democratic friend, [[Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton, Jr. ]] (pronounced MOO TAHN), Miller polled 9,210 votes (50.2 percent) to Democrat W.J. "Hook" Robicheaux's (pronounced ROW BI SHOW) 9,125 ballots (49.8 percent). Miller's margin was hence 85 votes.
Representative Mouton had been elected to the state senate in an earlier special election created by the resignation of state Senator Garland L. Bonin (pronounced BOH NEAN). Miller hence served the remaining two years of Mouton's House term. Miller served in the House with three other Republicans, [[Morley Hudson]] and [[Taylor O'Hearn|Taylor W. O'Hearn]], both of Shreveport in Caddo Parish, and [[E. Clark Gaudin|Edward Clark Gaudin ]] of Baton Rouge.
In 1968, in what turned out to be a real blunder, Miller gave up his House seat to challenge Mouton for a full term in the state senate. Mouton easily prevailed—57.1 percent of the vote to 42.9 percent for Miller. Miller's House seat also reverted to the Democrats. Indeed, as a result of the 1968 elections, there were no Republicans in the entire (House or Senate) 144-member legislature. By 2011, Republicans had majorities for the first time in both houses.
In 1972, Miller challenged Mouton for state senate reelection and lost again. Mouton polled 18,771 votes (62.2 percent) to Miller's 11,395 (37.8 percent). In defeat, Miller still ran 8.5 percentage points ahead of Republican gubernatorial candidate [[David C. Treen]] in Lafayette Parish.
Mouton served in the state Senate from 1966 to 1980 and ran for governor, as senate president pro tempore, in the 1979 jungle primary. He finished in sixth place with 124,333 votes (9.1 percent). Though Mouton was considered one of the more liberal candidates in the governor's race, he surprised observers by endorsing Republican Treen in the general election. Treen was then making his second gubernatorial bid. After his narrow election, Treen named Mouton as his executive counsel. Mouton succeeded [[Edmund Reggie]] of Crowley, who was the father-in-law of [[U.S. Senator]] [[Edward M. Kennedy]] and the counsel to outgoing Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, also of Crowley.
Mouton said that he and Miller "stayed close friends" by keeping politics and friendships separate. They were sworn in together in 1953 as the 46th and 47th attorneys in Lafayette Parish, Mouton said. The two helped to start the Hub City Kiwanis Club, and both were members of the Catholic men's organization, the Knights of Columbus.
==Civic interests==
In addition to Kiwanis and Knights of Columbus, Miller was a member of the Carmelite Men's Guild, the American Legion, and was active in the Boy Scouts of America. He was a member of the Acadiana Barbershop Chorus and the Four Fathers Quartet. His interest in the preservation of his native French language led Miller, a widower, to meet his second wife, Anna Jane Brinkhaus Gaiennie Miller.
He was a member of the Christ the King Church of Lafayette. A [[conservative]] in theology as well as politics, Miller was opposed to changes in the church after Vatican II and supported priests and those bishops who remained faithful to the Mass of Pope Pius V.
==Miller's obituary==
==Miller's Lafayette legacy==
Miller's hometown newspaper, the ''Lafayette Daily Advertiser,'', issued this editorial on his death:
"Rod Miller earned a place in the history of Louisiana politics. . . . He earned a lasting place in the history of Lafayette -- and of the Republican Party. In 1966, with the Democratic Party totally dominant in this community and across the state, Miller stood for election to the state House of Representatives -- and won. Never before had the people of Lafayette chosen a Republican to serve in that position.
"That victory proved that the wall of the Democrat stronghold could be breached, was a signal event -- a first step toward a two-party system and its wide-ranging benefits.
"He will be remembered for many things -- his dedicated involvement in community activities continued throughout his life -- but his pioneering work to establish a viable two-party system is perhaps the most lasting element of his legacy."
==References==
''Lafayette Daily Advertiser'', detailed Miller obituary, January 17, 2005.
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:LawyersAttorneys]]
[[Category:Catholics]]
[[Category:Catholic Politicians]]
[[Category:Knights of Columbus]]
[[Category:Cajuns]]